Traffic-signal upgrades get approval

Sunday

Dec 23, 2012 at 12:09 AM

The $1.3 million project will create a smoother traffic flow, transportation officials said.

Chance RyanStaff Writer

A smoother traffic flow could be on the horizon. State transportation workers are expected to start phase two of installing detection devices for a computerized system to synchronize traffic lights at major intersections throughout Terrebonne Parish. The new intelligent-transportation systems have been installed from U.S. 90 to Hollywood Road and will allow transportation employees to monitor the roads with state-of-the art computer programs, allowing them to adjust the timing of traffic lights for emergency responders or hurricane evacuations. The signal system will read images from fixed cameras at intersections. Once the $1.3 million project is complete, which could take between one to two years, commuters can expect a smoother traffic flow and shouldn’t hit as many red lights as with the old fixed-time traffic system, transportation officials said. “This system is designed to change the timing of traffic signals to fit traffic needs,” said Lyle LeBlanc, operations engineer for the local Department of Transportation and Development office.LeBlanc said the new installments are flexible. “We’ve changed the controllers and the electronics in them so that we can hook the fiber cables to them,” he said. “We can tweak and change the timing all from a remote location 24/7.”By the start of next year, 19 signals from Hollywood Road to Prospect Boulevard on La. 24 will also be upgraded.Once that’s complete and everything is connected, the new signals can be used, LeBlanc said. Like most urban areas Terrebonne is growing, and there isn’t enough room to expand highways, LeBlanc said. So, they have to be more productive.“We can’t build a five-lane highway on each side of the bayou in Houma,” he said. “Our only choice, once you have an area developed, is to make what you have more efficient.”This comes as welcome news from local commuters.“Oh wow, that’s great. I can’t stand the traffic lights here,” said Jane Yopp, as she filled up at the Murphy Express on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. “I figured that’s all they needed to do — just install some sensors that they can monitor, like at the drive thru.”Ryan Thornbourg works evenings at a bar off La. 24. He said the lights at night, even with minimal traffic, don’t work any better. “There is something about sitting at a red light in the middle of the night with nobody around that just makes it that much more worse,” Thornbourg said. “I think Houma would have a lot less traffic congestion if they just improved the lights. If you put in another lane, that lane will just be stacked with cars, too. This sounds smarter.”

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